A cooling method for a hot-rolled stock, in particular a metal strip, is known from DE 101 29 565 A1. In this known method an initial temperature is acquired for a stock location upstream of the cooling line, a coolant quantity characteristic is determined over time using a cooling line model and stipulated desired properties of the stock, a coolant is applied to the stock location according to the coolant quantity characteristic determined over time, an anticipated temperature characteristic over time of the stock at the stock location above the stock cross-section is determined using the cooling line model and the coolant quantity characteristic over time, and to determine the temperature characteristic in the stock in the cooling line model, a heat conduction equation is solved which relates the enthalpy, the thermal conductivity, the degree of phase conversion, the density and the temperature of the stock to each other. In the method described in DE 101 29 565 A1 anticipated temperature characteristics of the metal strip are compared with target temperature characteristics. A new coolant quantity characteristic is calculated on the basis of this comparison.
Hot formed metals produced and cooled according to known methods frequently do not satisfy, or do not satisfy with adequate reliability, the properties or material properties required for subsequent use thereof.